H&M leads efforts to improve factory safety in Bangladesh

About 15 years ago, the Department of Labor had a program that sent safety and
industrial hygiene specialists to Bangladesh to help them in their industrial
safety and health programs for employee safety. However, there has been a lot
of water under the bridge since then and the governments of both countries have
been sidelined with 3 different administrations and varying priorities. We used
to have some of those industries in that building in our country but didn't
move safety and health protection when our businesses went overseas.
Engineering controls don't necessarily save dollars for employers.
Employees are not necessarily a valued product in some countries and shaving off
processes save money for us to buy our products cheaper. We don't have to
worry about those worker's health care and unemployment costs nor the other
aspects of those products that come to our country. In a lot of cases, the
environmental processes have improved in our country but those countries where
our products come from don't necessarily have better rivers, forests, and
runoff.